


Jinx

by JoMouse



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Actor Liam, Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Flirting, Famous Liam, Fluff, M/M, Major Character Injury, Non-Famous Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-01 23:44:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8642821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMouse/pseuds/JoMouse
Summary: Famous actor, Liam James Payne, has quit acting at the height of his career.
University student, Zayn Malik, wasn't expecting to see his celebrity crush enter the laundry room of his dorm, but there he is.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I am so excited that I decided to be a part of the ["I Used to be a Baker" ficfest](http://iusedtobeabaker-fic.tumblr.com/). I had (foolishly) thought when I started that this would just be a cute little story, but as you can see, it's now 20K. Hopefully, still cute though.
> 
> Gigantic thanks to Christina, Jenn, and Mica for betaing for me and for all of their encouragement through this process. Thanks, also, to Toni for waving pom poms for me when I got discouraged. This story wouldn't be here without the awesomeness of all of these individuals.
> 
> Please comment and kudo or drop me a line on [tumblr](http://josjournal.tumblr.com/ask) to let me know if you enjoyed the story.
> 
> xx-Joey
> 
> Don't know 'em. Don't own 'em. Don't show 'em.

“Dammit, Lou!” Zayn bitched, his voice echoing from inside the washing machine as he folded himself nearly in half to reach the bottom. 

The sound of scraping continued for a moment while Louis held a finger to his lips, winking at Niall. Digging into his pockets, he dragged out a handful of change. Quickly, he started tossing the coins towards Zayn, laughing uproariously as they bounced off of Zayn and into the washing machine. 

Zayn jerked upright, whipping around to glare at his roommates who were relaxing atop the dryers looking as if butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. “All you have to do is empty your damn pockets, Tommo.” He rattled the change he’d dug out of the washer in his hands before sliding it into his pocket, giving Louis a look that dared him to protest.

It was a Tuesday night, they were hanging out in the laundry room of their dorm doing laundry. They’d discovered early in their Uni years that Tuesday was usually the quietest night down there, so this is what they did. Louis and Niall would hang out on the dryers harassing Zayn while he did all of the work. Zayn was secretly glad that, although this was their third year at Uni, this tradition still stood - he hated having piles of laundry sitting around the room.

“Hey! Did you hear who’s living in our building?” Niall suddenly asked, looking up from his phone where he’d been texting non-stop with some bloke he’d met over the summer hols.

“Us?” Louis and Zayn asked at the same time before calling out “Jinx,”. Niall reached out blindly to smack at them, but they both ducked out of the way with ease. 

Zayn shook his head as he pushed Louis’ legs out of the way to transfer the wet clothes he’d pulled out of the washer into the dryer. He closed the door to the dryer, moving Louis back around to how he was already sitting. He started the machine, laughing as Louis’ entire body started to vibrate. Zayn moved to the dryer Niall was sitting on, smiling when Niall pulled his legs up to his chest while Zayn unloaded the dry clothes, folding as he went and putting them in the laundry basket to be sorted through later. Or more likely, set in the middle of the room so they could grab clothes as they needed, regardless of who actually owned what.

“You remember that show  _ Two Bush Valley _ ?” Niall asked, Zayn smirking at the ludicrous name of the popular teen drama that had been cancelled the year before after a four year run.

“Everyone remembers that train wreck,” Louis responded. “It had that one guy on it that covered Lottie’s walls. What was his name?”

_ Liam James Payne.  _ Zayn thought. That was his name. Or rather, his three names. He’d played the lead role of Chad on the show until it had ended. He was the only reason Zayn tolerated watching the show with his sisters. He’d sit listening to them drool over the actor, especially every time he appeared shirtless, which seemed to happen at least once an episode. He’d never admitted aloud to anyone that he secretly felt the same way. 

Louis snorted. “Oh yeah, I heard about him coming here. Apparently he maneuvered his way onto the footie team and everything.” He rolled his eyes. “I bust my arse for two years to get a starting position and he waltzes on as a freshman. Must be nice to be a spoiled actor type who can just wave his cash around and get whatever he wants.”

Zayn felt bad for Louis, allowing him his anger, but he knew that Liam had been on track to become a professional footie player before he’d gotten the “role of a lifetime”. Zayn decided he’d attend the first practice the next day to see Louis’ face when he realized that he had some competition on the team this year. 

While they waited for the load under Louis’ arse to dry, they talked about classes, joking around and generally being obnoxious as only three mates can be. They stopped abruptly when the door to the laundry room banged open, revealing the back of someone tall with long curly hair pulled up into a bun. 

“Didn’t know we had any birds living in the building,” Louis called out, having the good sense to flinch when the person turned around to reveal themselves as very male. “Oops.”

“Hi,” the person greeted, smiling with no sign of having taken any offense at Louis’ comment. “I’m Harry. This is my roommate, Liam.” He jerked his head backward to someone carrying two full laundry baskets stacked atop each other.

Zayn gaped. Even though he now sported a buzz cut instead of the mop of light brown curls he’d sported on the show, Zayn would know that face anywhere. The topic of their earlier conversation, and regular star of his wanking fantasies, was standing right there. His biceps bulging from the weight of the baskets and Zayn had to fight the urge to lick them.  He chewed into his lower lip, trying to figure out if he should say something or just let it go, pretend he had no idea who Liam was.

Liam was surprised when he heard his name. He looked up from the English text that was open atop the laundry in his arms. His eyes fell on three gaping faces and he groaned internally. “Thought you said it would be empty,” he hissed at Harry, immediately feeling badly when he saw the attractive bloke with the pink hair flinch.

A blue-eyed boy with brown fringe narrowed his eyes at Liam. “Well, I’m so sorry to inconvenience a star of your stature. We’ll be out of here in…” he trailed off looking to Pink Hair.

“Another ten or fifteen minutes,” he muttered, ducking his head and turning away. 

“Ten or fifteen minutes.” The boy’s eyes moved to Harry before he hopped off the dryer to approach him; Zayn noted the subtle sway of his mate’s hips with a smile. “I’m Louis. This is one of my roommates, Niall.” He gestured to the blond who was watching the exchange with an amused look. “And Cotton Candy Hair is the other one, Zayn.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Harry said, moving towards the row of washers. “Are you finished with these?” Zayn nodded and Harry opened the one closest to the door.

“Uh,” Zayn started, wanting to warn Harry not to use that one. Louis had somehow managed to get something red stuck in it their first year and every new person to the dorm ended up with at least one load of pink laundry, no matter how many times they’d tried to repair the machine.

“Now, Zee, don’t be greedy, let the freshers use the machines,” Louis said, giving him a pointed look.

Zayn debated and let his better nature take the reigns. “Unless you like pink, don’t use that one,” he said, ducking when Louis swatted out at him.

“C’mon, Zee. It’s a rite of passage!” Niall shouted, laughing. “You still wear those pink boxers from first year! And I know Louis sleeps in the pink tee.” Louis and Zayn both grabbed Niall, dragging him off the dryer and into a tickle fight on the floor.

They all stopped when they heard laughter. Zayn looked up to find Liam glancing down at them, his eyes locked on Zayn. “Pink isn’t so bad.”

Zayn’s eyes widened.  _ Wait, what? _

Harry’s laughter grew louder as he moved to the next washer. “Any warnings for this one? Does it have a hunger for socks?”

Zayn snorted as he pulled himself to his feet. “No, that would be that dryer over there.” He pointed to the dryer on the far end.

Liam moved closer to follow the line of Zayn’s arms, smirking to himself when the boy tensed. “Are you sure it eats them? Could it possibly be liberating them from a lifetime of stinky feet?”

Zayn couldn’t help the snort that escaped him, but he fought the urge to turn his head, knowing that Liam was close enough that his nose would brush the other boy’s cheek. He swallowed hard, stepping away when he heard the buzz of the dryer.

Silence fell over the room. It was an uncomfortable silence, an extremely uncomfortable one. Liam could feel Louis’ eyes boring holes in the back of his skull. He knew who he was, had followed him on the Uni football team since his freshman year, even if he’d only played a couple of times that year. Liam figured he’d earned the glares, knew the resentment he’d be walking into, but he’d tried out for the team, just like all of them. He’d earned his spot, just like Louis had three years earlier.

Liam settled on the floor next to the first washer, figuring it would be the quietest spot to sit. He cracked open the English text again and started reading. He only got about one page into the essay he had to finish reading by Friday before squeezing his eyes shut against a migraine. He tossed the book to his left with a curse.

“I’m really hoping you were aiming for Lou,” a voice said. Liam groaned and looked up into the hazel eyes of Zayn. He was holding the book out to him with one hand and rubbing his wrist with the other. “Did the book, or I, do something to horribly offend you? If so, I’m sorry on both our behalfs.”

Liam blinked, his already overloaded brain trying to follow what Zayn was saying. He wasn’t stupid, but he wasn’t book smart either. Four years spent away from traditional schooling had made the adjustment back to a full course load a lot more difficult than he imagined most freshmen went through. “I’m sorry,” he finally stuttered out. “I just don’t get it.”

“Is this for O’Brien’s Intro to Lit class?” Liam nodded. “I had him. He’s a great guy, but doesn’t always do a great job of explaining what he wants from his students.” Zayn glanced over his shoulder when Louis cleared his throat. “Go on. I’ll be up in a bit. Don’t drink all the beer.” Louis nodded with a waggle of his eyebrows, although his eyes were still dark with distrust. Once he was out the door, Zayn settled on the floor next to Liam. “So, what was the assignment?”

Zayn didn’t know what had come over him, but he’d felt really bad when he’d seen the frustration on Liam’s face as he’d struggled to read the book. He told himself he’d have done this for anyone having difficulty in an English class; it was his major, after all. He tried to avoid looking in Liam’s face as he opened the book before turning it towards Zayn.

“He said we should read this and tell him what we think of it,” Liam said, looking sheepish when Zayn gave him an incredulous look. “I don’t know what to say.” He was feeling like a complete idiot as Zayn stared at him, but he didn’t know how to explain what he was struggling with.

“Have you read it?” Liam blushed. “Start there.” Zayn watched as Liam bit his lip, cheeks pinking slightly. A sudden, disturbing thought struck him. “You can read, yeah?”

Liam’s eyes were flashing dangerously when they snapped up to meet Zayn’s. “I’m in Uni, yeah?” He almost barked out something about reading scripts for years, but Zayn hadn’t made any mention of Liam’s past, so maybe he didn’t know who he was, despite his friend’s nasty comment when he’d first walked in. If so, Liam wasn’t going to blow the chance to get to know someone who only knew him as Liam the uni student, not Liam James Payne the pin-up soap star.

Zayn felt terrible as soon as the words had left his mouth. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded. Being literate and being able to understand this stuff,” he gestured to the book, “are two different worlds.” Liam looked skeptical. “For example, a child learning to read can identify the words ‘dog’ and ‘cat’ and possibly read  _ The Cat in the Hat _ , but probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend  _ Love is a Dog from Hell.”  _

Liam nodded, the storm on his face calming a bit. “Sorry ab-”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry for the way it sounded.” Zayn thought for a moment before coming up with an idea that he’d sometimes used with his youngest sister when she was struggling. “How about if I read the first page and then we’ll discuss it. Then you do the second and so on,” Zayn suggested, realizing he was setting himself up for a long night if Liam took him up on the offer.

Liam was suspicious, not used to having people wanting to help him without getting something in return. “What’s in it for you?”

Zayn looked taken aback at the question. He chewed his lip before answering carefully. “The satisfaction of helping a struggling student with my favourite subject?”

Liam felt himself relax at the open expression on Zayn’s face, taking a deep breath he decided to trust the boy next to him, to take his words at face value. “Alright, then. Proceed.” He handed the book back to Zayn who settled back against the wall, the book set against his bent knees. Liam moved to lean next to him so he could see the book as well.

“Michael Obi's hopes were fulfilled much earlier than he had expected…”

***

Liam entered the locker room slowly, his stomach clenching as he heard the noise of a bunch of boys who knew and respected each other talk badly about each other's mothers. He’d felt the heat and anger from Louis the night before in the laundry room; he figured that would be a pretty good example of how the rest of the team was feeling about him being a walk-on freshman. He’d heard Louis muttering to Niall behind his back as he’d attempted washing his own laundry for the first time since leaving home; his mum had spoiled him terribly, as did a couple of the wardrobe girls on set.

The voices stopped when he rounded the corner, and Liam felt the last bit of his bravery starting to disappear. With a deep breath, he tried to channel Chad, his character from the show, who always had confidence - usually too much. “Hey!” he said to the room, smiling broadly. “Who’s ready for this?”

Louis raised an eyebrow at him, and the smirk on his face made Liam nervous. “Really, Frosh?”

Liam felt his mouth twitch, wanting to pull his lip between his teeth, but refusing to flinch in the face of this older man. Instead, he took a couple of steps forward, using his height to his advantage as he looked down at him. “Really.”

Louis pressed his lips together, looking almost impressed as he nodded. “Zee said you weren’t a complete loser, so as long as you work hard, I guess we’re  _ ready for this. _ ” He imitated Liam’s accent almost perfectly on the last three words before reaching out and pinching Liam’s nipple and then skirting away before Liam could retaliate.

“He takes some getting used to,” a voice spoke up. Liam glanced over to find a shorter guy with a blond mohawk smiling at him. “Name’s Josh.” He offered his hand, and Liam took it, smiling.

“I’m-”

Josh waved him off. “I know who you are. The girls in school used to have your pics all over their notebooks.” Liam groaned. “No worries. I don’t care who you used to be, I just care who you are now. That display of bravado said enough.”

“Cool,” Liam said, glancing around at the quickly emptying locker room. “Guess I should get changed. Do you know which lockers are available?”

“Yeah, you can take the one next to mine.” Josh knocked a knuckle against a locker covered with pictures of drummers and then one that was blank. Liam glanced around, noticing most of the lockers were decorated in some manner or another. Louis’ was covered with Manchester United emblems and photos of people that must have been his family.

“Thanks,” Liam muttered as Josh slapped him on the arse before running out to the field. Liam opened his bag, pulling his gear out. Opening the locker, he started to change his clothes. He shoved his bag in, locking the door. 

He was reaching for the door to the field when it was pulled open and Louis was standing there with an amused look on his face.

“Took you long enough,” he said.

“Sorry,” Liam mumbled, feeling like an idiot for something that was out of his control, but he relaxed when Louis shoved him playfully in the shoulder. 

“C’mon, Coach will be out in a minute, don’t want to have to run laps on your first day.” When they were a few steps out, Liam heard Louis mutter under his breath, “Wouldn’t want to wear out pretty boy.” Liam’s heart sank, thinking that any progress he’d thought he’d made with Louis was wiped away in an instant.

When they reached the field, he saw Louis race over to the seats that ran along the field. He leaned against the railing talking animatedly to someone. As Liam drew closer, getting ready to drop down into a stretch next to the rest of the team, he recognized Zayn in the seats. “Zayn!” he called, waving when the boy looked up in surprise. After a moment, with a confused look, Zayn waved back, the movement slow and cautious.

Liam felt his chest clench even more. He’d honestly thought he and Zayn had hit it off the night before, but maybe he’d just read the situation wrong. With a sigh, he settled into a spot next to Josh and began stretching, realizing the footie practice he’d been so nervous about was turning out just the way he’d imagined, possibly even worse.

Louis was giving Zayn a strange look when he turned his attention away from Liam and back to his friend. “When did you and actor boy get all buddy-buddy?”

Zayn shrugged, wondering that himself. He’d stayed in the laundry room until fairly late helping Liam with the story, but wasn’t sure that made them friends. He had felt a bit of pride when Liam seemed to gain a better understanding of the story, or at least enough to know that he hated it. He’d told Liam to be sure and tell Mr. O’Brien that, but he’d seemed unsure. Zayn hoped he’d do it in class the next day, though.

“I don’t know, guess helping him with his homework makes us friends,” Zayn responded. “He seems nice enough - a bit out of his depth.”

“Well, education wasn’t exactly high on his priority list. Not sure what he’s trying to pull taking a spot on our team that someone else probably deserved more,” Louis muttered, glaring over at Liam and Josh who were stretching and chatting.

Zayn opened his mouth to tell Louis about Liam’s past in football, give him a little bit of a warning, even if Louis was being a wanker and deserved to have his face rubbed in the dirt a bit. Unfortunately, the coach chose that moment to blow his whistle and call the team to center field. “Just give him a chance,” Zayn called out after Louis, shaking his head when his friend flipped him off.

Zayn kicked back, smiling when Niall joined him, passing over a can of soda and a bag of popcorn. “So, I googled Mr. Three Names last night after we got back to the room,” he said, kicking his feet up on the railing. “Turns out he’s some footie genius.” Zayn snorted. “You knew?” Zayn nodded. “This is going to be fun.” Niall rubbed his hands together, smiling in glee before shoving a handful of popcorn into his face.

***

“Don’t ever talk to me again,” Louis groaned as he flopped back onto his bed dramatically, an arm thrown over his eyes. 

“Awwwww, did poor wittle Woo-woo get his arse handed to him?” Niall cooed, reaching out to pinch one of Louis’ cheeks. Louis attempted to retaliate by slapping at him, but didn’t uncover his eyes and kept missing, causing Niall to laugh as he climbed up into his bunk.

“You both knew, didn’t you?” Louis mumbled, groaning again when Zayn and Niall laughed. “Traitors! Never speak to me again!”

“If we don’t talk to you, who will?” Zayn asked, settling at his desk and opening his laptop. He quickly logged onto the University’s forum system to check to see if anything had been posted for his one online course, Art History. 

“I have many friends!” 

“Name one,” Niall and Zayn both said, adding on a quick “Jinx”. Niall hung over the side of the bed to stick his tongue out at Louis when he lifted his arm to glare up at him.

Zayn tuned them out when he noticed a new post. It was another student from the class looking for someone to go to the museum with them. The class had a major paper to do comparing two pieces of art from the museum located in the city, but it wasn’t due until the end of the semester, so Zayn was surprised anyone was already planning for it. He clicked on the post and it opened:  _ “Hey. I’m new to the area. Freshman - not sure how i even ended up in this class, tbh. I have no idea where the museum even is, so if anyone is planning to go soon and don’t mind someone tagging along, I’d appreciate it. - Liam.” _

Zayn blinked at the name. There had to be more than one Liam at the school, but how many were Freshman? It couldn’t be. He looked at the original poster and sure enough:  _ LJPayne1. _ Zayn debated whether he should send a message - he’d been planning to go to the museum that Sunday, not necessarily for the assignment, but because he honestly enjoyed going there. Before he could talk himself out of it, he clicked on the envelope icon next to Liam’s name.

_ To: LJPayne1 _ __   
_ From: ZJMalik1 _ _   
_ __ Hey, Liam. It’s Zayn. I’m going to the museum Sunday if you want to come along.

He hit send, turning away from the laptop to tease Louis some more when he heard the ding of an incoming private message. He clicked open the window, surprised to see it was from Liam, he must’ve logged in right after practice.

_ LJPayne1: Zayn? Like Zayn Zayn? Pink hair Zayn? _ __   
_ LJPayne1: It must be pink hair Zayn. How many Zayns could there be at this uni? Don’t be a donut, Liam. _ __   
  


Zayn chuckled as he typed his response.

_ ZJMalik1: It’s just Zayn. You regularly have derogatory conversations with yourself? Maybe I should rescind my invitation. _ __   
_ LJPayne1: Rescind doesn’t sound good.  _ __   
_ ZJMalik1: It means take back. _ __   
_ LJPayne1: Not good. I don’t normally talk to myself. This is Zayn Zayn though, yeah? _ _   
_ __ ZJMalik1: Yeah, is this Liam who just handed Tommo’s arse to him on the footie pitch?

There was no response for a long time and Zayn worried he had managed to offend Liam in some way. He glanced over when he heard a snore and saw that Louis had fallen asleep, and Niall had his headphones in while reading a book for his music theory course. He was ready to give up on the conversation, figuring that he’d managed to somehow stick his foot in his mouth without even trying. This is why he didn’t make friends easily and was thankful he had Louis and Niall to do the talking for him.

He was just opening up the paper he’d started for his creative writing course when his computer dinged again.

_ LJPayne1: How mad is he? _ __   
_ ZJMalik1: He’s not angry, so much as embarrassed, I think. _ __   
_ LJPayne1: :( _ __   
_ ZJMalik1: Did you just emoticon me in a serious college forum? _ _   
_ __ LJPayne1: :P

Zayn laughed out loud, waking Louis from his slumber. The boy sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Wha’so funny?” he mumbled, moving to look over Zayn’s shoulder. He slapped Zayn upside the head when he saw what was on the screen. “Consorting with the enemy and telling lies!” Louis stormed over and yanked out one of Niall’s earbuds, earning a flurry of very creative cursing from the Irish lad. “Are you quite finished?” Louis asked when Niall took a breath, only to start the string of cursing anew.

_ ZJMalik1: Uh oh, the tiny badger is awake. I better go. _ __   
_ LJPayne1: Tiny badger. Have to remember that one. _ _   
_ __ ZJMalik1: Please don’t. He’ll kill me.

Zayn left off by giving Liam his mobile number so they could make arrangements for Sunday. By the time he logged off and shut down his computer, he could feel Louis’ dagger glare on the back of his neck. “What?”

“Seriously. You said the two of you weren’t friends!” Louis huffed. Zayn looked up at Niall who was rubbing at his ear and watching the entire situation with amusement. 

“We’re not, but why would it matter if we were?” Zayn stood, crossing to his wardrobe to dig out a jumper. Pulling it over his head, he grabbed his keys and cigarettes, shoving them into the front pocket. 

“Just be careful. You know how actors are,” Louis snapped.

“Says the theatre major,” Zayn grumbled as he walked out of the room, letting the door slam behind him.

A few floors down in the same building, Liam shook his head as he logged off his computer. He saw Harry watching him carefully. “What?”

“You’re smiling.”

“I do that sometimes, you know?” Liam said, standing and stretching, still feeling sore from practice. He’d probably pushed himself too hard, but Louis’ attitude had frustrated him so much he’d given all he had, and then some, just to shut the man up.  _ Tiny badger. _ Liam chuckled.

“You haven’t done it much since I’ve met you,” Harry pointed out. He opened the mini fridge, pulling out two bottles of water and tossing one to Liam. “It’s nice to see.”

Liam flushed a bit. He knew he’d been a miserable twat when he’d first gotten here, so afraid that everyone who talked to him was only interested in being his friend because of what he’d done, not for who he was. He’d been relieved to meet Harry who admitted he didn’t have a television at home, so wasn’t familiar with his show. He had seen a couple of movies with Liam in them, but he just shrugged it off like it wasn’t a big deal.  _ “We are who we are, not what we do.” _ Liam liked that; he was glad Harry had been assigned as his roommate.

“Now, you’re escaping to dreamland. Did you get hit in the head at practice today?” Harry moved over to stare into Liam’s eyes.

Liam chuckled. “If I had, would you even know what you were looking for?”

“Nope. I used to be a baker, not a medic,” Harry said, laughing.

“I’m fine. A bit tired, but fine.” Liam stood up and began pacing the room, his mind racing over everything he needed to get done for his classes the next day.

“For someone who’s tired, you have a lot of energy,” Harry commented, watching from the desk chair he’d settled on. “How’re your classes going?”

Liam shrugged. “Only the first full week, but I seem to be passing, I guess. I just wish it wasn’t so hard.” He shook his head. “All those years of tutors telling me how smart I was. Guess I was a donut for believing it.”

“You are smart, Liam.” Harry stood to cross to his friend. “You just haven’t figured out your studying style yet, but you’ll get there.” As Liam continued to pace, Harry threw his hands up in the air. “Go for a run. Burn off that energy or you’ll never focus on your studies!”

Liam burst out laughing. “Ye’sir!” He saluted as he grabbed a jumper in case he got cold.

He exited the dormitory to find Zayn sitting on the front steps, a lit cigarette between his lips. “Hey,” Liam said cautiously, afraid that he’d get a bit of cold shoulder from Zayn like he had at practice, despite the good feelings he’d gotten from their messaging earlier.

Zayn’s smile was bright when he looked up at Liam. “Hey!” Liam stood awkwardly, wondering if he should sit down and join Zayn or go for the run he’d been planning on. “I don’t bite.” Liam blinked at him. “Unless you’re into that kind of thing.” Zayn slapped a hand over his mouth as the words left his mouth. 

The laughter that burst out of Liam’s mouth surprised them both, and Zayn let out a sigh of relief as Liam dropped down onto the stairs next to him. “Not sure I’m ready to share those types of secrets with you, yet.”

“So noted,” Zayn said, nudging Liam with his shoulder. “Maybe after the museum, yeah?”

Liam wasn’t sure how to respond to Zayn. He hated how out of sorts he felt talking to him, wishing he had a script that would help him talk to the boy. “So…”

“So.” Zayn scraped the cigarette against the step, putting it out before standing and dropping it into the receptacle at the base of the stairs. “I was going to take a walk around campus - stay out of Louis’ way for a bit. Wanna come?”

“Really?” Liam asked, standing up and brushing off the seat of his pants.

“Really.” Zayn started walking and Liam scurried to catch up. “I do tours of campus for extra money during the summers. You want one? Since you’re still new to campus and all?”

“That sounds ace,” Liam said, smiling as Zayn started in on his spiel, pointing out the buildings around them and explaining some of the history of the campus.

***

On Friday, Zayn was looking at the bulletin board in the English building, trying to see if anyone was looking for a tutor or any other job opportunities. He was reaching to pull a phone number from a flier advertising for someone to type up and edit their papers when he felt a body slam into him. He jerked around, ready to yell when he realized the person was Liam.

“Zayn! Zayn!” he said, excitedly. “I’m so glad I ran into you!”

“Quite literally,” Zayn said, trying to pretend to be irritated as he rubbed at his arm, but was afraid the look on his face was nothing but fond due to the boy’s extreme excitement.

“I did what you said!” Zayn tried to figure out what Liam was going on about when the boy pulled him into a tight hug, lifting him off the ground. Zayn feared for a second he was going to spin them around in circles, causing Zayn’s feet to injure the other students who were passing them, eyeing them warily.

When it seemed like Liam wasn’t letting go anytime soon, Zayn returned the hug and found Liam’s laughter contagious. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he finally admitted when Liam let him out of the hug, but kept his hands grasping Zayn’s upper arms.

“I told O’Brien that I thought the story was shit!” Liam said, his voice loud and carrying. Zayn really hated the way everyone was staring at them, but he didn’t have the heart to burst his bubble. “And he said I was the first person in two years to be honest with him!”

“I told you,” Zayn said, laughing and wondering if he should point out to Liam that he was the last person to be honest with the teacher about something. “Did he say anything else?”

Liam started nodding his head so enthusiastically that Zayn was afraid it would bounce right off his neck. Reaching out, he grasped both sides of his head, laughing when Liam did. “Yes. He had me stay after class. Told me that as long as I remain honest with him, even if we have differing opinions, I can drop my three lowest homework grades at the end of the semester!” Liam threw his hands in the air and let out a whoop of joy and doing a ridiculous little shimmy.

Zayn kept shaking his head and laughing, realizing that he still had his hands on Liam’s face and dropping them suddenly before he did something stupid like pulling him in for a kiss. This was beginning to feel far too similar to some of his fantasies. He backed off quickly, not missing the hurt look on Liam’s face. 

“That’s great, Liam. I’m really thrilled for you,” Zayn told him, glad when the words took away the hurt, but there was still confusion lacing through his brown eyes.

“We need to celebrate!” Liam started looking up and down the hall. “Do you have a class now?” Zayn shook his head. “Great!” He grabbed Zayn by the wrist, dragging him down the hall towards the doors. Zayn kept apologizing to the kids they were running into, but couldn’t help laughing. They made it outside and down the steps of the building before Liam stopped, causing Zayn to run into him.

“Why’d you stop?” Zayn asked, laughing.

“I want milkshakes to celebrate,” Liam said. “Where can we get good milkshakes?”

“I know a million places to get good milkshakes, but only one to get  _ great _ milkshakes,” Zayn supplied as his mind went immediately to the diner that he’d discovered one night when he’d been having trouble staying awake at the library while studying.

“Lead the way,” Liam said, gesturing and then smiling when Zayn looked at him for a moment before grabbing his wrist and breaking into a run.

Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting across from each other in a booth, Zayn breathless and Liam still looking like someone had brought down the stars and given them to him in a gift wrapped package. Zayn shook his head fondly when the waitress came over to the table, her eyes tracing Liam’s face before a slow smile crossed her face. Liam looked uncomfortable, so Zayn spoke up. “Before I die over here, love, do you think you could bring me a water?”

The waitress’ eyes flicked to Zayn, widening slightly when he gave her the smile his sisters referred to as his “hungry shark”. The waitress flushed before nodding and hurrying away from the table.

“Thanks,” Liam whispered, reaching to pull up the hood of his jumper, effectively hiding from the glances around the room. Zayn wondered how often Liam had to hide, especially at the uni where most of the students that were matriculating knew who he was. “Think she thought you were cute.”

Zayn shrugged. “Not my type,” he said, handing one of the menus to Liam.

“What is?” Liam asked, forcing his voice to be casual as he kept his eyes on the menu.

“Someone closer to my own age, to be honest,” Zayn said, glancing at the waitress again as Liam looked up. “I think she’s probably closer to my mum’s age than my own.” He shuddered a bit and then felt bad when he saw a strange look on Liam’s face.

It was after a moment of thought that he remembered something he’d heard one of his sisters complaining about one night while they were watching Liam’s show. Liam was supposedly dating the woman that was playing his mother on the show. “Not that I judge people who date older people or anything. More power to them. Just not my thing.” Liam nodded, but Zayn was pretty sure he wasn’t paying attention. “I’m gay, Liam,” he finally blurted out, figuring he better put that out on the table in case Liam didn’t want to hang with him one on one anymore; it had happened to Zayn in the past.

Liam heard Zayn’s words and was trying to figure out how to respond, how to tell him that he was as well. He’d spent the last four years of his life pretending to date woman after woman because the “powers that be” decided him being gay would lose him fans. He chuckled when he thought about how many of those same fans used to ship him with his costar Tyler. He took a deep breath, having promised himself that now that he’d left the acting career behind, he was going to be himself.

“So am I,” Liam whispered. Then a little louder. “I’m gay.” It was the first time in four years he’d said the words aloud, since that first meeting where he’d been told that wasn’t permitted.

Zayn tried not to let the surprise show on his face. He really wanted to ask, but he could tell Liam really didn’t like talking about his past, so he didn’t want to press the issue. He vaguely remembered his oldest sister talking about all the theories online that Liam was gay and all the women were “beards”. He shook his head, maybe the internet wasn’t as crazy as some would lead you to believe. “Are you seeing anyone?” he asked instead.

“I was before I came to Uni,” Liam explained. “He, er, he didn’t think the long-distance thing would work.” Zayn nodded, understanding. “You?”

“I was, but  _ she _ didn’t think me coming out was good for our relationship,” Zayn said with a serious face, only breaking into laughter when Liam did.

“That’s terrible!” Liam said.  _ At least the women I dated knew I was gay from the beginning,  _ he thought.

The waitress returned to the table just as Liam balled up a napkin, throwing it at Zayn who retaliated with his own. She suddenly seemed less impressed by the two of them, and as they placed their orders, found they really didn’t care.

***

Liam had invited him, but Zayn chose not to go to football practice that afternoon. Instead, he headed to the library and get a head start on a couple of papers that were due the following week. He was on the top floor in the very back where the oldest books were kept and very few students visited, except for the random drunk couple looking for a thrilling place to have sex. Zayn shook his head as he turned up the volume on his music to drown out the awkward sounds coming from two aisles over.

He saw his phone light up, seeing it was a message from Louis to the group chat they had with Niall. Practice must be over. He slid his finger over the screen, tapping in his access code without looking. When the message opened, he nearly burst out laughing. 

_ LT: I’m going to kill him. Kill him dead! _ __   
_ NH: Usually how that works, mate. Who are you killing? Do I need to get the shovel? _ __   
  


Zayn shook his head as he added his two cents.

_ ZM: Don’t encourage him. Murder is still illegal and I don’t want to go through the trouble of finding new roommates. _

Zayn thought about it for a moment before adding.

_ ZM: Make it look like a suicide. At least his roommate will get something good out of the deal. _ __   
_ ZM: Wait - who are you killing? _ __   
_ LT: WE are killing one certain full of himself wanker of an actor named Liam James Payne! _ _   
_ __ NH: I’m out. We’re not killing Zayn’s new bffl.

That stopped Zayn for a moment. Since when did Liam earn the title of best friend for life? That was Louis and Niall. Well, if Louis would talk to him again other than sending him texts looking for partners in crime.

_ ZM: He’s not my bffl! _ __   
_ NH: Boyfriend, whatever. Lou? _ __   
_ LT: I’m out. _ _   
_ __ ZM: Lou, I love you, but grow the fuck up!

Zayn was about to shut off his phone when it lit up again, this time a text message from Liam. He debated ignoring it, but decided he better check since he hadn’t used the number before and might be in desperate need of more homework help. He opened the message to a picture of a large black dog.

_ LP: Look who was sitting outside our dorm! _ __   
_ LP: Wait. This is Zayn, right? Zayn. Zayn? _ __   
_ LP: Of course it’s Zayn. He gave you his number, you donut. _ __   
_ ZM: You’re doing it again. _ __   
_ ZM: And It’s just Zayn. Zayn Malik. _ _   
_ __ LP: Like James Bond!

Zayn shook his head, trying to keep the fond smile off his face and failing.

_ ZM: Sure. Dog’s cute. _ _   
_ _ LP: Think I could hide him in the dorm? _

Zayn laughed out loud then. He looked at the picture again, the dog was the size of a small horse.

_ ZM: Maybe if you dressed him up as a third roommate. I might have a shirt that’ll fit him, but you aren’t cutting tail holes in my shorts. _ __   
_ LP: :( But he’s soooooo cuuuuuuuuttttteeeee _ __   
_ ZM: Did you suddenly become a teenage girl? _ __   
_ LP: (middle finger emoji) _ __   
_ ZM: Rude. I gotta study, Liam.  _ __   
_ LP: :(  _ _   
_ __ LP: Fiiiiiiiine. Talk to you 2mrw!

Zayn looked at his phone, waiting to see if anyone else was going to message him. After a few moments of it remaining dark and still, he shoved it deep into his rucksack and turned back to his homework. It was a few moments later when he thought about Liam saying he’d talk to him the next day. They hadn’t made plans until Sunday. Maybe Liam was just confused.

***

Liam was sitting in his room, staring at Harry who was standing in the doorway staring at the large black monster sitting between Liam’s legs chewing on a sneaker that probably cost more than Harry’s best suit. “Close the door!” Liam hissed, the dog raising its head and spotting Harry. He rose to his feet, walking over and began sniffing Harry as he closed the door.

“What is this?” Harry asked, dropping to his knees and petting the dog’s ears, earning a lick to the face. 

“I call him Watson,” Liam said, smiling as the dog looked at Liam when he said the name. “He seems to like it.”

“We can’t have a dog in here, Liam,” Harry said. Liam’s face fell. “Don’t give me that look. He probably belongs to someone.”

“He doesn’t have a collar and he was just sitting on the front steps and he likes me!” Liam whined. The dog left Harry and returned to Liam laying his head in Liam’s lap. “See.” He ran his hand over the dog’s ears.

Harry’s eyes were sympathetic, but his words were firm. “We can’t keep him. They’ll kick us out of school.”

“Fine,” Liam said, standing, knowing Harry was being a tad overdramatic but didn’t want to risk him getting in trouble just because he wanted to keep him. “Watson and I are going on a run; maybe we’ll come up with a plan.” The dog followed Liam out the room and down the back stairs, where they managed to leave the building without being spotted.

Liam really wasn’t stupid. He knew he couldn’t keep the dog with him, but he didn’t want to drop him off at a shelter somewhere. Watson kept pace with Liam, never veering even though he didn’t have a leash on. They ran through campus and Liam could hear people shouting compliments about Watson as they went. He just waved, nodded, and continued running.

He was doing just that when he slammed into something, or rather someone and found himself sprawled backward on the ground, papers fluttering around him and Watson barking loudly. “Fuck me,” he muttered.

“Bit early in the relationship for that,” Zayn said from where he was sprawled on the ground as well.

“Zayn? Zayn!” Liam shouted, scrambling to his feet. “I am so sorry!” He helped Zayn to his feet, brushing him off, the neck of his vest slipping to the side to reveal even more tattoos on his chest. Zayn laughed as he pushed Liam’s hands away and fixed his clothing. 

“Just Zayn. I’m fine.” He glanced around them. “My coursework on the other hand...” He started to reach for some of the papers at his feet at the same time that Watson jumped up on him, sending him to the ground again and knocking the wind out of him.

“Watson!” Liam yelped, grabbing for the dog, suddenly wishing the dog did have a collar as he covered Zayn’s face with kisses.

Zayn’s breath came back with laughter as he grabbed the dog’s head, keeping it from licking him, laughing harder when he kept trying. “This is the dog from the picture!” Zayn looked up at Liam who suddenly busied himself with the papers that were blowing around. “You can’t keep him, Liam!” He was worried about sounding harsh, but he was still laughing.

“Can too,” he responded, the pout evident even with his back to Zayn.

Zayn got the dog under control with a stern “Sit.” He began helping Liam with the papers, glad it wasn’t windier out when they managed to get all of them. “Liam, you live in the dorms, they don’t allow dogs. Unless you want to call your folks and have-”

“No,” Liam admitted, sitting on the ground and putting his arms around the dog. “I want Watson to stay here.”

“You’ve named him?” Zayn shook his head, knowing now that it was too late to talk sense into Liam. Suddenly he had a thought. He pulled his phone out and began texting as he continued talking. “I have a friend who lives off campus. Maybe she’ll take him until you figure something out.” He hit send and settled down next to Liam and the dog, scratching behind Watson’s ears, sputtering when he got a face full of tongue.

“Thanks,” Liam whispered. “You must think I’m an idiot. It’s, just, I’ve never had a dog before and I really love them and he was right-”

Zayn held up a hand. “Stop babbling. I get it. If I could keep a dog here, I would.” His phone beeped and he checked it, smiling. “She’s in. Let’s go.”

Zayn started walking slowly, waiting for Liam and Watson to fall into step with him before speeding up a little bit. Liam was quiet, his eyes on the dog as they walked. “Your friend is cool, yeah?”

“Yeah, she’s sick, man.” Zayn’s phone went off. He stopped and let out a curse when he checked it. “It’s my mum. I have to take it. Aleece’s house is right there.” He pointed to a large blue house where a blonde was standing on the porch. “Just tell her who you are and I’ll catch up when I’m done.”

Liam chewed his lip, nervous suddenly, but nodded. He looked down at Watson who had sat back on his haunches and was looking up at Liam, head tilted in question. “Ready to go make a new friend?” With a sharp bark, Watson bounced towards the house like he was going home and Liam felt a tinge as he followed, glancing back at Zayn whose head was bent as he whispered fervently into his phone.

Watson was already up the stairs having his tummy rubbed when Liam reached the house.  _ Traitor,  _ he thought, looking at the dog before turning to the girl. He held his hand out as she stood, brushing her hands off on her jeans. “Hello. I'm Li-”

“No fucking way! Zee didn't tell me his friend Liam was  _ the  _ Liam James Payne!” She shook his hand energetically while he winced. 

“Could you keep your voice down?” He glanced over his shoulder at Zayn who was still on the phone but moving closer and looking less distressed. “Not entirely sure he knows ab-”

The girl’s laughter cut him off. “You're shittin’ me, yeah? He and his sisters were, like, obsessed with that show of yours.” Liam’s heart caught in his throat at her words. She put her hands on her hips, giving Liam a glare that was belied by the twinkle in her eye. “Pretty sure you're half the reason he figured out he was gay and broke up with me.”

“What?” he looked back to Zayn who held up a finger in a “one second” gesture. “Please tell me you-”

Her face fell as she took in Liam’s expression and wringing hands. “Shit. He didn't tell ya.” She smacked herself in the forehead. “Nice one, Aleece.”

Liam didn't even have the wherewithal to chuckle at how like him her gesture was because all he could think was Zayn had lied to him. That Zayn had known all along and was probably bragging to everyone how he was helping the poor stupid actor with his coursework. How they’d gone out for milkshakes together. How even a smile from him could turn the famous actor into a blushing mess. Worst of all, how he found out that the ladies’ man of television was actually gay. 

“I've gotta go. I can’t...” He let his voice trail off as he started down the stairs. 

“Wait!” She shouted and Liam managed to turn back towards her even though every instinct in his body was telling him to run. “I need your number so I can call you about the dog,” Aleece said, her voice quieter as she caught onto the seriousness of the distress Liam was going through. 

“His name’s Watson. Get it from Zayn.” The words spilled out quickly, Liam not even sure if she heard him before he was off and running, hoping he was actually headed back towards campus. 

Zayn turned as Liam ran past him. He called his name, surprised when Liam didn’t even slow. He turned to look at Aleece, who was watching him with a stricken look on her face while Watson whined up at her. “What did you do?” Zayn asked.

“What didn’t you do?” Aleece retorted. “How could you not tell him you knew who he was?” Although to anyone else her voice would sound harsh, Zayn could hear the concern underneath. It was times like these he was thankful they’d managed to stay friends even after the breakup, remembering why he did love her. She may verbally smack him around from time to time, but only when he needed it and always with the best of intentions.

Zayn could feel his heart freeze in his chest as he fumbled his phone out of the pocket he’d just slid it into. He opened it to Liam’s messages and sent off:  _ I can explain. Please let me explain. _ He didn’t hold his breath waiting for a response, instead following Aleece and Watson into the house, trying to ignore just how good the dog was at giving pitying looks.

Liam kept running until he just couldn’t anymore. Collapsing to the grass, he fell onto his back and stared up at the sky, his breath fast and heart pounding hard enough that he expected any of the people wandering around campus to look over at him to find the source of the noise. No one noticed. They just kept walking.

When they’d gotten word that the show was being canceled, Liam, unlike the rest of the cast, had been relieved. He’d been discussing quitting with his parents and agent for awhile. He wasn’t happy being an actor, wasn’t happy living in the closet, and really wasn’t happy never knowing who his friends really were. His parents tried to talk him out of it until he said that he would even be happier going back to when no one showed up for his sixteenth birthday, the last before the show started, because at least then no one had been pretending to be his friend. It was that moment they realized how serious he was about quitting and became allies in the battle.

He stayed through the end of the final season, but he was thrilled when on the last day of filming, he’d received his acceptance letter to the university of his choice. Good school and far from where he’d been living while filming. He wanted a brand new start and as soon as the final cut was called, he’d taken a set of clippers to his head, shearing away the curls he was so well known for. He’d even managed to walk all the way home from set that day without being bothered. He took that as a good sign.

He’d deferred starting school for a year, choosing to travel a bit, hoping his name would fall out of the tabloids a bit, but instead he’d become ‘the reclusive Liam James Payne’. He shook his head as he remembered all the harassment he’d gotten from paps over the year, leading to quite a few twitter rants including the often referenced, “Fucking paps get a proper job u dick”. Finally, the year was over and it was time for him to try living the life he’d put off for so many years.

Since arriving at school, he’d met people who he felt he could trust to like him for him: Harry most notably. He’d also met people who hated him for who they thought he was, or at least one person - Louis. There were also a small few who tried to get close to him, even in such a short time, just because he was famous. He’d seen the tweets about him being at the school, felt the eyes on him as he went to class. He’d had numerous people show up at his and Harry’s door until he got to the point he never answered it and Harry told people they had the wrong room. He was just glad his lawyers had put out a blanket notice that any harassment from paparazzi would be met with serious lawsuits, or life would’ve been even more difficult.

He thought he’d been getting a pretty good grasp on life here, had found a way to be happy, but then Harry had had the brilliant idea to do laundry on a Tuesday night. He remembered spotting Zayn for the first time, a zing of electricity running through him like he’d never felt before. He’d even tried flirting with him a bit, surprised and pleased when he’d seemed to respond. Then Zayn had offered to help him, and Liam thought he had a chance to make a friend or even more. Zayn had just seemed so sincere.

Liam had been thrilled to think the pink-haired boy had no idea who he was and was genuinely helping him out of the kindness of his heart. As he thought back, he realized he should’ve been suspicious when Zayn had messaged him on the forum; how he had known the Liam that posted was the same Liam he’d helped with homework. It was because he’d seen his name, his last name. Liam pounded his fists against the ground and bit back a scream of frustration, already imagining the headlines if anyone saw him:  _ Former Soap Star Loses the Plot. _

He was still lying there when his phone went off several times in a row. He’d been ignoring it until now, but decided to check the time. He must have been lying here for at least an hour, there was a missed message from Zayn that he deleted without reading, two from Harry asking if he’d gotten lost, and then the messages that had caught his attention. They were from an unknown number, making Liam wonder if it was time to change his. Again. Against his better judgment, he opened the messages and was greeted by a long line of bubbles, scrolling up to the top he saw:  _ Hey. This is Aleece. _

Before he forgot, he created a contact for her, knowing he’d keep getting a nervous lump in his throat every time he got a message from her otherwise.  _ Aleece ZaynEx _ was the name he put in, his fingers hesitating over the name. He went back to the messages.

_ AZ: You left so fast, you didn’t say how long you think I’ll be keeping Watson. _ _   
_ _ AZ: Shit, that sounded rude. He’s welcome to stay as long as he needs and you can visit anytime. _

The next message included an image of Watson, head on the windowsill as he gazed outside, face pathetic.

_ AZ: Think he misses you. _

Liam smiled, thankful that at least Zayn had saved his arse when it came to Watson.

_ LP: Thnx 4 doin this. Give him a kiss 4 me. _

He hit send at the same time another picture popped up from Aleece. This one was of Zayn, collapsed on a sofa with his eyes closed, cheeks flushed with, what looked like, drying tear tracks. An empty whiskey bottle was laid across his chest.  _ “Pretty sure he misses you, too.” _

Liam’s eyes traced the picture of Zayn, refusing to give a name to the tightness in his chest as he acknowledged that Zayn looked like he felt. He sent back a quick message to Aleece thanking her again for taking Watson and amending his earlier comment for clarity to:  _ Give Watson a kiss for me.  _ He threw his phone to the side, ignoring the alerts that started almost immediately. He knew he should go back to the dorms, especially now that he knew Zayn was passed out at Aleece’s and wouldn’t be lying in wait for him, but he just couldn’t bring himself to move.

Liam was starting to doze off when a shadow fell across him. He looked up to see Harry’s outline against the streetlight. “You have a perfectly good bed in our room,” he said, settling cross-legged next to Liam. “Where’s the dog?”

“At Zayn’s ex-girlfriend’s,” Liam responded, throwing an arm over his face when he felt tears threatening to spill over. There was no logical reason for him to be this upset over Zayn, they’d only known each other for a few days. Yet, in those few days, Liam had shared more with Zayn than he had with anyone in a long time.

“What happened?” Harry asked, pushing Liam’s arm off his face and taking in the tears. “Oh no.”

Liam started talking, his words slow and hesitant as he tried to explain what had happened and how he was feeling about it. He wasn’t used to having someone to talk to about what was going on inside his head, so he was having a hard time expressing himself. Even as he formed the words, he could see the skeptical look on Harry’s face. “So, he lied to me. He used me,” Liam finished with, rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes, ignoring the moisture he found there.

“He didn’t lie, he just didn’t tell you something.” Liam opened his mouth to argue, but Harry placed a hand over it. “Which is a lie by omission, yes, but not a direct lie,” Harry said, his face twisted into a thoughtful grimace. 

“Whose side are you on?” Liam snapped as he shoved Harry’s arm away, but there wasn’t much venom in his voice. A small part of him was listening to Harry’s words and wondering if maybe he was right.

“Your side. You’re my friend. I’m just not sure whose side  _ you’re _ on.” Harry stood, his back cracking before offering a hand to Liam. “C’mon, it’s getting late. If you sleep out here, you’ll be a mess for practice tomorrow.”

Liam let Harry help him to his feet, the two of them walking back to the dorms together, talking about everything except what had happened that night. By the time they got back to their room, Liam was exhausted. He fell into bed still wearing his clothes, praying for exhaustion to pull him under so he could escape the racing thoughts of his brain. Instead, he spent over an hour talking to Harry about everything Zayn-related, including his own confused feelings. Eventually, he dropped off mid-sentence, still hoping to forget today had ever happened.

***

Zayn groaned at the knocking that was echoing around him. The sun was too bright and his bed just didn’t feel right. He jumped, falling to the floor when a pillow smacked across his face. “Wake up!” Aleece’s voice screeched as he heard Watson barking and Louis’ voice from far away hollering his name. “Go let him in before he breaks down the door.”

Zayn crawled across the floor, the night before coming back to him slowly in blurry images. He scratched at the door, trying to grasp the knob before managing to unlock it and get it open. He rolled out of the way when Louis and Niall barged in. Louis stood over Zayn with his hands on his hips while Niall went to drop down onto the floor next to Watson who was watching the entire scene with his head tilted.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Louis shouted, causing Zayn to wave his arms in an approximation of  _ “keep your voice down”. _ “I’ve been up all night worried sick about you!”

“Sorry, mum,” Zayn muttered, looking up at Louis and blinking again at the image of his messy haired roommate wearing sleep shorts and a shirt that said,  _ “I don’t like morning people. Or people. Or mornings.” _ Zayn started laughing, the sound echoing inside of his head in an explosion of pain, but he couldn’t seem to get himself under control.

“What the hell did you do to him?” Louis shouted at Aleece, who just raised a hand from underneath her blanket, two fingers extended before rolling back over. “Zayn, seriously, you aren’t that pissed off at me, are you?” Zayn’s laughter died quickly at the rare serious tone to Louis’ voice. He looked up at his friend, who sat on the ground next to him, reaching a hand out to brush pink locks out of his face. “You’ve been crying?”

Louis leapt to his feet, crossing the room to Niall who was leaning into Watson, eyes closed and soft snores issuing from his lips. Louis kicked him. “I made him cry,” Louis said when Niall jolted awake. “Was I really that much of a wanker?”

“Yes, you are that much of a wanker,” Aleece’s voice came out from under the covers, “but you don’t get credit for those tears.” She shoved the blankets off before coming over to kneel next to Zayn, wrapping protective arms around him. “These all belong to that stupid wanker Payne.”

Zayn groaned at the name. “Not his fault,” Zayn muttered before rolling over and emptying the contents of his stomach in Aleece’s front hall.

***

Liam managed to get a couple of hours of sleep, but he was still awake far earlier than necessary, so he decided to head over to the practice pitch early to get some personal practice in. As he walked, he thought back over the conversation he’d had with Harry after the lights had been turned out, their backs to each other. He’d finally admitted to Harry that he was more afraid of how he was feeling for Zayn than he was angry about Zayn not telling him he’d been a fan of the show, or more specifically him.

Harry had convinced him that he needed to talk to Zayn, find out if there had been any ulterior motive in Zayn’s omission. Liam looked at his phone but thought that seven in the morning might be a tad too early to call considering the shape the other boy had been in the photo he’d been looking at all night. He pocketed his phone as he reached the locker room, pulling the door open and trying to come up with a plan for the morning.

He’d only been on the field about a half hour, a good sweat going as he ran suicide drills, when he heard the door from the locker room slam open. He continued running, figuring it was another player or two coming in early as well. He was just about to turn back towards the locker room when he felt someone fly into him, knocking him to the ground. 

He rolled as he hit the ground, moving his face just in time to avoid a flying fist and wincing when he heard Louis hit the ground and let out a yelp. The smaller man was off Liam in a moment, shaking his hand and cursing up a storm. He managed to kick Liam in the side twice before he got to his feet, grabbing Louis by the wrists and holding his struggling form away from him. Looking around, Liam saw Niall walking slowly across the field.

“Get ice from the locker room!” Liam hollered to Niall who looked up, turning around without a word and hurried back the way he had come. Liam shook his head before looking down at the fuming boy he was holding at a distance. Never had Zayn’s description of Louis as “tiny badger” seemed more accurate as when the boy was nearly spitting and growling at Liam. “What the hell was that for?”

“You’re a wanker! I knew you were! I warned Zayn! I told him to stay away from you! You’re bad news! Walking in here like you own the fooking world!” Louis managed to get his hand free and one good punch to Liam’s nose, causing them both to yelp in pain. Liam fell on his butt, his hands cupping his already bleeding nose while Louis hopped around waving his hand and yelping in pain. 

Niall hurried up to them with an ice pack. He looked between the two, dropping the pack to the ground before running back to the locker room, with a shake of his head. Liam watched him go, then looking up at Louis who was looking at him before they both looked down at the ice pack. Liam nudged it with his foot. “You take it,” he muttered, his voice sounding strange through the swelling that was already starting.

Louis grabbed the pack and held it to Liam’s nose. “You’re hurt more, you take it.” Liam tried to pull away. “Don’t be a wanker.”

“Thought you already decided I was one,” Liam muttered as he let his hands drop so Louis could hold the pack to the bridge of his nose. 

Louis snorted. “You are. The worst wanker in the world, making my best mate cry like a little girl. How can you be such an arse to him? Zayn’s one of the greatest humans I’ve ever met.”

“He is,” Liam agreed.

A little bit of the fight went out of Louis at Liam’s agreement. “Then you come along and break his heart.” Louis cursed when Liam sneezed, causing blood to spray all over the both of them. “Ew!”

“Sorry,” Liam wheezed out, using his shirt to staunch the blood flow. Niall arrived just then with another ice pack, a towel, and the coach.

“What the hell happened here?” Coach asked looking between Louis’ bruised knuckles and Liam’s bloody nose.

Louis opened his mouth, but Liam hurried to speak over him. “We were scrimmaging and ran into each other. Louis hit the ground with his fist and I fell on my face.” His words were rushed and he chose to ignore the stunned look on Louis’ face.

“Is that really what happened?” The coach was looking at Louis who took a minute to recover before nodding. “Well, neither of you can practice until you get checked out and cleared, so off to the medical center with you.”

Louis stood with Niall’s help before turning to offer a hand to Liam who took it after a moment, chuckling when Louis’ stumbled a bit under Liam’s weight. The three of them turned to walk away, listening as the coach muttered under his breath about hot-headed athletes and liars.

Liam wanted to smack himself even as the words, “We all know Louis associates with liars,” left his mouth.

“Don’t make me hit you again, actor boy,” Louis growled out. 

Niall spoke up then, having been quiet through Zayn and Louis’ conversation earlier and through the confrontation between Louis and Liam. “I’m over this,” he said, looking at the both of them. “Louis, you’re a bloody theatre performance major - an actor boy, stop being bitter because Liam already had a career you aspire to and can very nearly kick your arse on the footie field.” Liam snorted, causing another splatter of blood. “Oh, don’t worry, you’re next.”

Liam looked sheepish as they arrived at the doors of the health center, Niall pulling open the door and gesturing the both of them inside. Once they were inside, they both signed in, Louis getting called to the desk immediately while Liam trailed after Niall to the waiting area. “Is it my turn?” Liam asked as they dropped into seats next to each other.

“It is, but I’m having a harder time putting my words together for you because I haven’t been privy to a lot of what has gone on between you and Zayn. To be honest, aside from him helping you with your homework that night in the laundry room, I didn’t even realize you’d had any interaction until this morning when Louis dragged me out of bed to Aleece’s.” He shook his head. Liam could practically see the wheels turning in his head, feeling them beginning to turn in his own as well.

“Wait. Zayn didn’t talk about the things we did together?”

“Nope,” Niall said, popping the “p”, a small smile on his face. “Zayn’s always been pretty private, even with his closest friends. He keeps things close to the chest. He’s the best secret keeper I know. Because he’s this way, it took a long time for me to realize that he considered me one of his best friends.” He looked Liam over. “A rank I think he was ready to let you have, but you had to go all aggro without letting him explain.”

“I felt like he lied to me.” Liam’s voice was quiet, knowing that argument was losing validity and quickly. “Harry made me see that wasn’t true.”

“Of course, it isn’t true. Zayn doesn’t lie. He doesn’t talk much, but his words are never lies,” Louis said as he dropped into the seat across from Niall just as the registration woman called his name. “You’re a sodding wanker,” Louis hissed.

“Yeah, I know,” Liam said, head hanging as he made his way to the desk.

“So, how are you going to fix it?” Louis and Niall shouted after him, smug smiles on their faces. “Jinx.”

***

Zayn spent most of the morning at Aleece’s, reveling in being left alone in her backyard with Watson, who alternated between pressing into Zayn’s side and running to the gate every time someone walked by. Zayn wondered if the dog was hoping, like he was, that Liam was going to come see them.  _ Don’t be stupid, Zayn, if he comes back, it’ll only be for Watson. _

Around noon, he decided it was time to head back to the dorms. Louis should be at practice, which meant Liam would be as well, so they wouldn’t run into each other. Zayn secretly hoped Niall was anywhere but the room. He loved his friends, but he wasn’t in the mood for any more judging. Although Niall had remained silent that morning, he had felt his eyes on him as he explained everything to Louis, starting with the major crush he’d had on Liam when he was on his show. Finally, ending with that night before when Liam took off like a bat out of hell, leaving him at Aleece’s with a pain in his chest that he tried to drown with a fifth of whiskey.

Niall hadn’t had any advice, just wrapped around Zayn and squeezed. He’d been thankful for the support at the time, but he knew Niall was secretly the wisest of all of them and had honestly hoped for some words of advice or encouragement.  Instead, he’d sat back and watched as Louis dragged Niall out of the house, cursing Liam James Payne and vowing to avenge the heart of his best friend. Zayn’s smile was fond as he remembered the entire scenario.

As Zayn crossed campus, he had flashes of memories of showing Liam around, explaining it to him. He remembered the corner by the gym where Liam had suddenly pulled his hood up and ducked his head, hurrying Zayn until they were further away. When he’d questioned Liam, he hadn’t gotten a response and he hadn’t pushed because he’d assumed that Liam had been spotted by someone and that he didn’t want to talk about it. 

When Zayn arrived back at the room, he let out a breath of relief to see that it was empty. Pulling out his computer, he started working on an assignment for creative writing. He was well into the story when the door behind him slammed open. Checking the time, he was surprised to see that several hours had passed and he’d only managed to write two paragraphs, his mind wandering back to Liam and how he could’ve avoided the entire situation. He wasn’t convinced introducing himself with,  _ “Hey, I’m Zayn and I used to wank over you,” _ would have been the best idea, but short of that, he wasn’t sure what he could’ve done differently. He honestly had thought that by not acknowledging Liam’s past, that Zayn knew who he was and had crushed on him like most of the teenage girls in the country, he was doing what Liam wanted. He was beginning to see he was an idiot.

Louis dropped onto his bed with a dramatic groan while Niall climbed up into his, removing his headphones. He gave Zayn a soft smile before rolling over and pulling his blanket over his head. After a few moments, he could hear the muffled sound of too-loud  _ Wonderwall _ coming through headphones. He turned back to his computer, sighing as he realized what little he had written was absolute crap. 

Louis let out a loud groan, drawing Zayn’s attention away from his laptop. It was then that Zayn finally noticed the bandages on Louis’ right hand. “What did you do?” he asked, his mind imagining the worst.

“You should see the other guy,” he muttered.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Zayn responded, moving to sit on the edge of Louis’ bed. “Do you need anything?” Louis shook his head, his eyes looking droopy. “They gave you the good stuff, didn’t they?” 

Louis nodded, rolling over on the bed with a groan. “Still hurts.”

“Broken?” Zayn asked, worrying about footie and Louis’ coursework.

“Bone bruise. Just gonna hurt for awhile. Can go back to footie tomorrow.” Louis’ voice was slurred and deep. Zayn wasn’t surprised when he heard snores shortly after.

Zayn stood from the bed, poking at Niall’s back, smiling when the blond rolled over, blinking sleepily. “Gonna run and get some food for Louis, want anything?”

“Sure, whatever you pick up’ll be fine,” Niall said, eyes already closing and the last word coming out on a snore.

Zayn grabbed his coat and smokes, making sure he had his wallet before he left the room. He glanced between the lift and the stairs, trying to decide which way would make him less likely to run into Liam. He thought about Liam’s physique, remembering him taking the stairs when they’d gotten back from the tour and milkshakes. Turning to the lift, he pushed the down arrow.

After a moment, it came to a stop, the doors opening as Zayn held his breath. He let it out when he discovered the car was empty. Stepping in, he pushed the button for the main floor and leaned back against the wall next to the panel, letting his head fall back so he could stare at the ceiling. The lift only traveled for a short period before the doors opened again, glancing at the numbers above the door, he saw they were only on the second floor, the freshman floor. Zayn pushed off the wall as a hooded figure stepped into the car, head down. 

The figure glanced towards the buttons next to Zayn, freezing when he made eye contact with him. Zayn swallowed hard and tried to step around to the doors, but the person moved at the same time until it was too late and the doors closed them in. “Fuck,” Zayn muttered, turning to knock his forehead against the wall just as the lift gave a violent shudder. Turning quickly, he discovered the person had moved to the other side of the car, burying their face in the corner like a scolded child.

“Liam,” Zayn said, his voice cautious, watching the shoulders tighten. “Hey, turn around.”

“No,” Liam said, his voice firm, but sounding a bit like he had a stuffed nose. 

“The lift stopped,” Zayn said, watching as Liam turned slightly to glance up at the wall just as the lights inside went out. Before they were plunged into darkness, Zayn had caught a glimpse of a white bandage over Liam’s nose. His mind immediately went to Louis’ bruised knuckles and he let out a curse.

He reached up to hit the emergency button but was greeted by nothing. He pulled his phone out, fiddling with it until he could turn the light on, apologizing when it shone right in Liam’s face, startling a yelp out of him and giving Zayn a good look at his face. The bandage covered the bridge of his nose and the skin behind it and around his eyes was swollen and bruised. “Shit, mate. Lou did that?” 

“Deserved it,” Liam whispered.

Zayn was surprised by his words, by the lack of anger, and by the general air of exhaustion that was surrounding Liam. He tried to figure out what to say when his phone beeped with a message.

_ LT: Where are you? _ _   
_ _ NH: Told you he was going for food. _

Zayn rolled his eyes at his friends.

_ ZM: You’re in the same room, why are you texting each other? _ __   
_ ZM: Stuck in the lift between first and ground. Send help. _ __   
_ LT: Power’s out. _ __   
_ ZM: Hadn’t noticed. (eye roll emoji) _ _   
_ __ NH: Are you alright?

Zayn knew Niall would never handle being trapped in the lift like he was. Niall had such severe claustrophobia that he normally took the stairs, so Zayn made sure to assure him quickly that he was fine. He thought a moment before adding.

_ ZM: Payne is here. _ __   
_ LT: Shit _ _   
_ __ ZM: Yep. 

There was no response after that, but he wasn’t surprised because there was really nothing to say about the situation. He was stuck in a lift with someone who hated him. He glanced up to see Liam sitting on the floor now, knees drawn up to his chest, forehead resting on them. If the flashlight on his phone hadn’t still been on, he would’ve missed the tremor running through Liam’s body.

“Are you crying?” Zayn asked, slowly crossing the lift to kneel in front of Liam. He hesitantly reached a hand out to touch his shoulder, but froze when Liam looked up at him, a wry smile on his face and giggles leaving his lips. “You’re laughing?” Zayn was amazed, but as he watched Liam’s giggles grow into full body laughs, he felt a bad case of the giggles overtake him as well. It wasn’t long before they were both sprawled on the floor of the lift, gasping for breath around their laughter.

“Not even sure why we’re laughing,” Liam managed to push out as he struggled to sit up, a hand going to his nose as it began to throb. “This is a crap situation.”

Zayn sobered up at that statement. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I knew who you were.” The words were out before he could stop them, although his voice was quiet. His face heated up at the admission and he pushed himself back against the wall opposite Liam, his sprawled out legs nearly touching Liam’s. 

“I think I understand why you didn’t,” Liam said after a moment, leaning his head back against the wall, blinking rapidly. His face was hurting something fierce, he’d been on his way downstairs to buy something to drink to take his pain meds when the lift got stuck, trapping him with Zayn much sooner than he was ready to talk to him. “Plus, I didn’t give you much of a chance.” He could feel his cheeks pinking beneath the bruising and was grateful for the darkness. “I kind of just forced myself into your life.”

Zayn chuckled, a fond smile on his face that he knew Liam couldn’t see but made him feel embarrassed anyway. “I wouldn’t say that.” He slid across the floor of the lift until he was right in front of Liam. “Even if you had, I didn’t mind.”

Liam wanted to laugh at that, but instead he bit out, “Because I’m famous?”

“No.” The word left his lips quickly because he knew it was true, but he also knew Liam would need more than a two-letter word that could easily be a lie. He tried not to let the silence last too long as he formed the words in his head, hoping they were the right ones. “I didn’t mind because you’re a dork who likes comics and struggles with my favourite subject. You love dogs and milkshakes and celebrating everything.” He shook his head, his smile fond, but feeling like his words weren’t enough, weren’t right. “I didn’t mind having you around because you’re the least cynical person I know, aside from your understandable trust issues.” He reached out to place a hand on Liam’s knee, glad when it wasn’t knocked off. “I’ll admit, I had a bit of an internal freak out when I first saw you, but when you were struggling with that essay I stopped seeing the guy that used to hang on my sisters’ walls.”

The only sound in the lift for a few moments was their breathing before Liam looked up with a teasing smile. “Just your sisters’?” The tightness in Zayn’s chest eased just a bit at that. 

Zayn covered his eyes for a moment before dragging a hand slowly down his face. “I kept your pictures in a locked file on my phone,” he admitted against the palm of his hand, glad when it was greeted by Liam’s laughter.

“At least you’re being honest,” Liam finally said as his chuckles stopped.

“Never meant to be dishonest,” Zayn hurried to correct. “Really didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable around me, especially since, like I was saying, I stopped seeing ‘Liam James Payne’ and started seeing Liam - the nervous uni freshman who kills on the footie field and struggles in the classroom.” He shrugged. “ From the second Louis opened his mouth, I could tell it bothered you when anyone brought up your past or recognized you, so I just thought it would be easier for you if I didn’t mention it. I honestly didn’t think you’d view it as me having an ulterior motive to wanting to do things with you.”

“Harry pointed out that it was a pretty weird thing to think since it wasn’t like you were seeking me out to spend time together. In fact, the only time you even approached me was on the forum, but I could’ve been anyone.”

“True, even if I hadn’t known who you were, I can’t imagine the odds are great that there are two freshmen named Liam who had no clue how to get around the city,” Zayn teased. He tilted his head to the side. “I also approached you in the laundry room.”

“After I assaulted you with a book.” Liam turned away, burying his face into his hoodie to hide the blush he knew Zayn wouldn’t be able to see in the dark anyway. “And tried, unsuccessfully, to flirt with you.” Zayn’s face flushed at the confirmation that Liam had been flirting with him that night. He opened his mouth to speak just as some of the lights came back on, revealing both of their pink faces. “Maybe we’ll be free now.”

A disembodied voice crackled through the speakers. “Anyone in there?” 

Zayn scrambled to his feet, slamming his hand on the intercom button. “Yes!” Liam chuckled from his spot on the floor, thinking to join Zayn at the control panel, but opted to remain on the floor. “There’s two of us. Think we’re between the first and ground floors,” he said.

“Hang tight,” the voice came back. “Generator power has been started, but that’s not enough to get the lifts moving. Are you both alright?” 

Zayn looked over at Liam who looked a bit grey. “You alright?” Liam pulled a bottle out of his pocket, shaking it, the pills causing a loud echo in the small space. “We need something to eat and drink in here, if possible. Got a guy with a broken nose who needs his pain meds.”

“We’ll get right on that,” the voice sounded concerned, but they could detect a bit of mirth running underneath. “We’ll keep you updated.” The intercom clicked and Zayn knew the other person was gone, hopefully getting help and food, in that order.

“Thank God,” they both said.

“Jinx,” Zayn said automatically, laughing when he saw Liam’s brows raise in confusion. “It’s a thing my sisters used to do, Louis’ too and now we do it. When you say something at the same time as someone else, you say, ‘Jinx’.” He laughed. “I’m sure there’s some pseudo-deep meaning behind it, but really it’s just a habit now.”

“Ah,” Liam said. “I see.” Zayn could tell he really didn’t, but he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of a silly game.

“Sorry about your nose,” Zayn said, moving to sit next to Liam, smiling when he leaned his head over onto Zayn’s shoulder.

“Like I said, I deserved it,” Liam said. He pulled his phone out, opening up the texts from Aleece, he tilted the phone to show Zayn the picture of him she’d sent. “I made you cry.”

Zayn made a mental note to kill Aleece as he shook his head, his cheek brushing against Liam’s hair. “I cried because I’d upset you, not because you hurt me in some way. You didn’t deserve Louis hitting you.” He was used to Louis’ protective streak, remembering him threatening some mammoth man he’d seen grabbing Niall, who later turned out to be his secret boyfriend. When it came to protecting the ones he loved, Louis was fearless, but he thought this time had less to do with Zayn and more to do with himself. “Think he’s been out to get you since day one, to be fair.”

Liam made a choked off sound followed by a groan. “Note to self, no snorting. Ow.” Zayn laughed because he couldn’t think what else to do and was relieved to see Liam smiling. “Harry made me put myself in the tiny badger’s shoes. After that, I really can’t blame him for hating me.”

The doors to the elevator slid open and they looked to see Louis peeking in, lying on the floor of the Freshman level. “Don’t hate you, but I might if you keep calling me tiny badger.” He glared at Zayn. “Although, I have a strong suspicion I know where you got that from.” Zayn held his hands up in surrender, as he and Liam laughed.

Niall and Harry’s heads appeared on each side of Louis’. “Having fun?” Harry asked.

“They are not having fun, Harold,” Louis said, his lips quirking in a smile.

“Yeah, they’re trapped in a metal box of death,” Niall added, grunting like he’d been hit, an innocent look on Louis’ face. “At least they’re together.”

“Not necessarily a good thing,” Harry countered, but he was smiling at the two of them sitting close, Liam’s head still on Zayn’s shoulder.

“Looks like it’s not a bad thing,” Niall said, waving a finger between the two of them. “So, where’s the food, Malik?”

“Didn’t get that far, did I?” he snapped, poking back when Liam poked him in the side and muttered, “Rude.”

“Excuse me, boys,” a voice said and the three looked over their shoulders. “Do you think that you could pass this to the ones in the lift, please?” Zayn smiled, recognizing the disembodied voice from the speaker.

“Where’s ours?” Niall asked as Zayn stood to take the sandwiches and waters from Louis.

“Not stuck in the lift, are you?” the voice said. “Now, back away. We don’t want the door to try closing on you if the full power comes back on.”

Niall and Harry got to their feet, arguing food options while Louis glanced at Liam and Zayn with apprehension. “You sure you’re alright?” he directed the question to Zayn, but his eyes kept flicking to Liam who was struggling with opening his sandwich.

“ _ We’re _ fine,” Zayn retorted as he made a shooing motion with his hands. “I’ll be back when they let us out.” Louis pointed two fingers at his eyes and then at Liam, still glaring. “Just go.”

“Sorry about him,” Zayn said, settling next to Liam again, reaching over to take his sandwich to remove the wrapping before handing it back. 

“Thanks.” Liam was embarrassed that he couldn’t seem to get his fingers to cooperate, but Zayn wasn’t really making a big deal out of it. After they ate in silence for a few minutes, he looked over at Zayn. “You don’t have to keep apologizing for him.”

He shrugged as he opened one of the waters, handing it over to Liam before opening one for himself. He took a long swallow, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth and replacing the cap. Liam watched him, taking small sips of his own. “I’ve known Louis for three years and I’m always apologizing for him because he’s too damn stubborn to do it himself.” He chuckled. “He’s really not a bad guy.”

Liam pulled the pill bottle out of his pocket again, blushing when Zayn immediately plucked it from his fingers. Reading the side, he opened the bottle, shaking out one and holding it out to Liam. “Thanks, again.” He swallowed the pill, giving a grateful sigh in anticipation of relief. “Didn’t think he could be a complete arse, since he has your loyalty and all.”

Zayn chuckled. “I’m nothing special.”

Liam opened his mouth to argue, but the lift gave a mighty shake and began to move downwards. They traded smiles as Liam pushed himself to stand before reaching out to help Zayn up. They were so close to the doors, they nearly fell out on Louis, Niall, and Harry when they opened. “Back from war!” Louis declared, hugging Zayn close, and exaggeratingly cooing into his hair. “My baby boy!”

Zayn cocked an eyebrow at Liam who was smiling from within Harry’s arms, looking like he was getting a similar welcome. “Think they’ll lock me back in there?”

“Only if I can come, too,” Liam said, waving a hand as the two of them started walking towards the stairwell. 

Zayn untangled himself from Louis, ignoring his pout. “We still on for tomorrow?” he shouted as the door to the stairwell closed. He figured Liam hadn’t hear him, but then Liam’s hand gave a thumbs up in the window of the door.

Shaking his head, Zayn pulled his phone out and texted.  _ “Seven a.m. Front doors.”  _ He turned to look at Louis who had a strange look on his face, a look that meant he was thinking far too hard and realizing that he might, indeed, be wrong about something. “He’s not a bad guy, Lou.”

After a long silence where a lot of emotions passed over his face, a number of which Zayn didn’t even attempt to identify, Louis finally responded with, “He’s just too different, but I guess he can’t be a complete arse if he’s got you on his side.”

Zayn laughed out loud at that, the sound echoing off the walls and startling the other students who were nearby.  _ “You two are more alike than you think,” _ Zayn thought as he let Louis and Niall drag him out the front doors, the two of them whining about food.

***

Liam was sitting on the top step outside the front doors when Zayn came running out, nearly tripping over him. “You’re late,” Liam teased, handing over a napkin wrapped object and a bottle of water.

“You brought food?” Zayn asked, settling onto the step next to him and opening the napkin to reveal a blueberry muffin. He sniffed it before taking a large bite. “This is amazing,” he mumbled around a mouthful of exploding muffiny goodness.

“Harry made them this morning,” Liam said, smiling as he drank from his own water bottle. He was glad for the food when he’d woken up so that he could take his pain meds right away. He was feeling better than yesterday, but he was still hurting quite a bit.

“This morning? Does the boy sleep?” Zayn asked just before shoving the last bite into his mouth. “Can I bribe him for more?” Liam laughed, picking up a bag that was sitting next to him and handing it over. “Yes!” Zayn cheered as he pulled another muffin out of the bag.

“He sleeps, but I guess he was up texting with your roommate last night?” Zayn looked up, eyes wide in surprise, mouth wrapped around the muffin. “Louis, not Niall, believe it or not.” Liam’s eyes were sparkling, he was still surprised when he found a sleepy looking Harry standing over his bed with a bag of muffins and a wide grin on his face. “Guess they bonded in the time we were in the lift.”

“We weren’t in there  _ that _ long,” Zayn argued.

“Long enough, I guess.” Liam stood and brushed off his trousers, blushing when he realized he was a bit overdressed as he looked from his chinos to Zayn’s ripped jeans.

“No dress code at the museum, mate,” Zayn said, standing and knocking his shoulder into Liam, tapping the done up button at the top of Liam’s blue checked oxford. “You can change if you like.” Liam looked like he was debating the idea as his eyes trailed over Zayn’s snake shirt and leather jacket. “Although, I think you look right nice, so maybe I should change.”

Liam shook his head. “You look great.”

“So do you,” Zayn assured, smiling. “Although…” he trailed off, looking thoughtful as he reached up and undid the first three buttons of Liam’s shirt, revealing a bit of his chest and the top of the white vest he was wearing beneath. “Now, you look per-” He cut himself as he looked up at Liam’s head. “Not perfect, but alright.”

Liam ran a hand over his hair, feeling the soft bristles beneath and feeling self-conscious. “The curls, yeah?” Zayn shrugged a shoulder. “I had to get rid of them. It’s how everyone identified me, ya know?” 

“Yeah, plus you’d look like Harry if you still had them, but maybe you should grow out a mohawk or something.” Zayn nodded as he glanced up. “A curly mohawk.” They both laughed as Zayn pitched the now empty paper sack towards the trash bin and missed. 

Liam picked it up and deposited into the receptacle before falling into step next to Zayn who was looking at his watch. “We’ve got to hurry or we’ll miss the bus.” He started to run down the street, knowing the laughter he was hearing was Liam poking fun at what Louis called Zayn’s “penguin run”.

“Or we can take my car,” Liam shouted, laughing when Zayn stumbled to a sudden stop and turned to look at him. “May not like being famous, but it has its advantages.” He pointed towards the lot to a black BMW that suddenly started as Liam fiddled with the key fob in his hand. “Wanna drive?”

“Can’t,” Zayn muttered, giving him a glare that was belied by the warmth in the hazel of his eyes, waiting for Liam to laugh at him.

“Shame, but not a big deal. Didn’t get my license until just before I came here.” Liam was quiet as they walked towards the car. “Didn’t really have time to learn while filming.” Zayn’s step faltered, it was the first time Liam had mentioned anything about the part of his life and it had taken him by surprise. Glancing over he was glad to see a smile on the boy’s face. “Wow, that wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.”

Liam opened Zayn’s door for him, waiting until Zayn was in to shut the door firmly but quietly. Zayn was doing up his seatbelt when Liam settled inside. As soon as the car started, Liam tossed an iPod at Zayn. “You choose.”

“Seriously?”

“Why not? I’ll be busy driving.” Zayn nodded in response before scrolling through the music selection, pleased to see that they shared musical taste. He finally settled on a song, starting it and realizing Liam had yet to pull out of the spot. “I don’t know where I'm going ,remember?”

The drive to the museum was quick and when they got inside, they began to bicker at the booth when Liam refused to let Zayn pay. “You’re putting up with me for a day, it’s the least I can do.”

“You’re my friend, Liam, it’s not ‘putting up with’ you,” Zayn countered as they stood in front of a wall map, trying to figure out where to start. Zayn wanted to go check out the new traveling exhibit, but he could do it on another day if Liam wasn’t interested. “Just starting to feel a bit like a date.” When Liam didn’t respond right away, Zayn turned to look at him, surprised to see how red Liam’s face was. “Oh, shit.”

“Never mind,” Liam said, hurrying away from the wall map, heading in some random direction, hoping against hope that perhaps he could get lost in the darkness of some of the rooms. It wasn’t like he’d planned this to be a date when he and Zayn had first talked about it, he hadn’t even really known Zayn then.

It hadn’t been until Harry had said something that morning, a teasing, “Have fun on your date, Liam,” that his mind had turned to that idea. He knew he was terrible at flirting, but even his fake girlfriends had complimented him on his dating etiquette, so he thought maybe he could impress Zayn that way. Now, he realized he was being foolish; he was lucky Zayn had called him his friend, why would he think he’d even want to date him.

Liam found himself in a dark room with display cases along the wall, each holding different pieces of pottery. His eyes traced the one directly in front of him, a cream coloured bowl with blue symbols around the edges. Something about the shapes of them tugged at his memory, but he couldn’t place why they looked familiar. He was looking for a placard when he heard Zayn speak up behind him. “It’s in Arabic.” Liam’s eyes met Zayn’s in the reflection in the glass. “It’s called  epigraphic ware. The writing around the edges is a blessing on the homeowner.”

“The writing looks familiar.” Liam’s eyes closed as he tried to file through his memory to place where he’d seen it before. He couldn’t find the answer, so he turned to face Zayn, his eyes studying his chin rather than looking him in the eye.

Zayn tugged the neck of his shirt down and to the side, revealing writing with shapes similar to those on the bowl. “My grandfather’s name. You might have seen it at some point.” Liam nodded, remembering now when Zayn’s shirt had slipped outside the library.

“Tell me more?” Liam wasn’t sure if he was asking to learn more about the pottery or about Zayn himself.

With a smirk, Zayn started talking about the pottery, interspersing the information with small stories about his life. They were almost completely around the room when Liam felt fingers tangling with his own, glancing down her saw thin caramel-coloured fingers wrapping around his. Looking up at Zayn in surprise, he felt warmth flowing through him at the softness that was reflected back at him. “I never said I was against this being a date,” he stated simply, before leading Liam out of the room. “Now, let’s try to find something you can actually do your paper on because Islamic artifacts are not going to be it.”

Liam squeezed his hand, following while fighting down the laughter bubbling up from deep inside of him. He had no idea where Zayn was leading him to, but he also knew that he would follow him.

***

They stayed until just before the museum closed, Liam still struggling to find two pieces that he thought he could do justice and Zayn having not even bothered to try for himself. He knew he’d be back to the museum numerous times that semester, especially since they’d never gotten to visiting the exhibit like he’d originally planned on doing before Liam happened.

The smile that burned Zayn’s cheeks, like a sour candy eaten too quickly, at the thought of Liam was something he wasn’t used to, but he thought he could get there. He was waiting for Liam to finish in the loo as he glanced at the wall of flyers for the museum and surrounding attractions. Happily, he picked up one for the exhibit he hadn’t seen that day. He was studying it when he felt breath across the back of his neck.

“What’s that?” Liam reached around, plucking the flyer from Zayn’s grasp, laughing when he tried to grab it back. He held it just out of Zayn’s reach, eyes scanning the words, his breath leaving him in a gasp and dropping it when Zayn reached out and twisted one of Liam’s nipples. “Hey!”

Zayn snatched the paper from the floor and broke into a run, escaping through the door of the museum and turning towards the carpark. Thankfully, the street was pretty empty, so Zayn was able to move quickly through the crowd. He wasn’t even sure why he was trying to keep Liam from reading the paper, but when he glanced over his shoulder and saw Liam gaining on him, a wide smile on his face, the reason didn’t matter anymore. 

He saw the expression on Liam’s face change just as he felt a sharp pain through his right side and his feet were knocked out from under him. The next thing he heard was Liam shouting his name from a great distance, even though he was standing right over Zayn. He couldn’t figure out why he was on the ground or why everything hurt. Just as he was about to ask, everything went dark.

***

Liam was pacing the waiting room of the A&E when Louis and Harry came running in, Niall following at a slower pace, arms loaded down with bags that were giving off delicious aromas and drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “Eat something,” Niall said, shoving a bag at Liam who shook his head, continuing to pace.

“What the hell happened?” Louis shouted, stepping in Liam’s path, both hands on his hips. “What did you do to him?”

Liam heard the words that Louis was saying, but he couldn’t make sense of them. He opened his mouth to speak, but a soft moan was all that came out. The image of angry Louis was overlaid with that of smiling, laughing Zayn being hit by a kid on a motor scooter, his body becoming airborne for a moment before slamming into the pavement. Liam could barely remember covering the remaining ground between them, shouting Zayn’s name before bending over him just in time to see his eyes close.

Zayn hadn’t awakened again the entire ride to the hospital as the medics worked on him, assuring Liam over and over that his vitals were good. He vaguely remembered one of the medics checking him over for shock, Liam wasn’t entirely sure they weren’t onto something with that thought process as he kept trying to answer Louis. Suddenly, it was Harry who was standing in Liam’s line of sight, his mouth moving and Liam could imagine the slow, syrupy syllables of his voice running over and around him.

He felt his body being moved, a chair underneath him. It was a moment before he was blinking against lights shining in his eyes. “How recent is the nose injury?” he heard someone ask.

“Yesterday,” Louis’ voice answered. “Not sure how bad-”

“Broken,” Harry supplied. “Been benched for at least two weeks.”

“Shit,” Louis muttered.

“Well, he’s definitely in shock. We should probably take him-”

“No,” Liam spoke finally, his voice firm. “Zayn.”

“Mr. Payne, I understand that you are concerned for your friend, but you need-”

“Zayn,” Liam repeated, blinking rapidly as the room finally began to come back into focus and the noises less muffled.  

“Alright,” the doctor who had been examining him said. “Stay here and I’ll check on your friend.”

“Thank you,” Liam and Louis both said, his brain telling him to smile, but his face not cooperating.

“Jinx,” Louis muttered, but Liam ignored him.

As soon as the doctor was gone, Liam tried to push himself to stand, oofing when Harry dropped into his lap. “Nope, you are not moving,” he argued. “The doctor will come back and let us know how Zayn is doing.”

Liam managed to gently push Harry off him, smiling when Louis kept him from falling to the ground. “I can’t just sit here,” Liam said, rising to his feet again and rubbing roughly at this hair.

“Can you tell me what happened, now?” Louis asked, his voice uncharacteristically cautious.

“We’d just gotten done at the museum and we were fighting over a flyer,” Liam started, the images so clear in his head that he couldn’t help the smile that was now starting to twist his lips.

“You were fighting?” Harry looked surprised.

“Not fighting. Just messing about. Zayn grabbed it from me and took off running.” Liam could feel the trembling in his hands, relieved when Harry grasped one gently. “He was running down the street in front of the museum, laughing. He looked over his shoulder at me and I saw the scooter, but before I could do anything…” Liam trailed off, feeling tears spring to his eyes as he remembered seeing Zayn’s body go into the air, the thud when he hit the ground, the confusion in his eyes as they closed.

“You chased him into traffic!?” Louis screeched, glaring when Harry slapped a hand over his mouth.

“I didn’t mean to!” Liam felt himself falling back into the memory of sitting by Zayn’s side, trying to hold his hand, but afraid he’d hurt him further as they waited for the medics that someone else had been smart enough to call. He fought the medics, insisting on riding with Zayn, trying to convince them that he and Zayn were married and scrambling in when he finally saw the sympathetic smile on the woman medic’s face. “How did you know we were here?” Liam suddenly asked.

“Zayn’s mum called us,” Niall said, trying to force a sandwich into Liam’s hand, but it just fell to the floor. “Asked us to come over here until she and his father could get here. Aleece is waiting outside for them.”

“Louis called me,” Harry added.

At that moment, Liam noticed Aleece racing into the waiting room with a man and woman trailing her, even if he hadn’t known they were coming, he would’ve known these were Zayn’s parents. He stopped pacing to watch as the woman drew Niall and Louis into a hug, the man running a hand through his hair and then shaking their hands. “Where is he? Have we heard anything? What happened?” his mother asked, looking at them all before her eyes fell on Liam and she stopped talking. 

Liam held up a hand, wiggling his fingers in a shy wave as he looked to Aleece for help. “Liam, this is Yaser and Trisha Malik, Zayn’s parents. This is Liam, Zayn’s friend.” Louis snorted and Aleece glared at him. 

Trisha’s eyes ran over Liam from head to foot and back again, making him feel like a specimen under a microscope. He drew his shoulders in, trying to make himself disappear under her intense scrutiny. “Were you in the accident as well?” she finally asked, gesturing to Liam’s face.

“No, ma’am,” Liam started. “Louis did that.” Louis’ prideful smirk disappeared when Trisha turned to glare at him. 

“It was a misunderstanding,” Louis argued, holding his hands up in surrender, his gaze going to Liam in a silent plea for collaboration.

“I bet,” she responded, her eyes still on Louis, most likely not missing the look. “Now, can you tell me what happened? The hospital just said there was an accident.”      

They all looked to Liam, who opened his mouth to speak just as the doctor that had been looking at Liam earlier came back into the waiting room and approached Liam. “He’s awake.”

Trisha cleared her throat drawing the doctor’s attention away from the noticeably relieved Liam. “My son is awake?” 

The doctor flushed. “Yes, ma’am. I’m Dr. Higgins, the attending today.” He held his hand out.                                                                

Mr. Malik shook the doctor’s hand as his wife threaded her arm through his other arm. “We wish to see him now.”

“Of course. Follow me,” the doctor said, giving a sympathetic smile to Liam and leading them away.

“Well, guess meeting the parents didn’t go well,” Aleece said, laughing when all four boys turned to scowl at her.

***

Zayn was feeling awfully floaty as he stared up at the ceiling, trying to take inventory of his injuries. He knew he was in the hospital and the very nice nurse, who’s badge read  _ “Jesy,” _ had told him what had happened. “Liam?” he’d asked as soon as he’d managed a couple of sips of water, wondering what had happened to Liam when the accident had occurred.

“I think he’s in the waiting area,” she said, smiling as they were joined by a doctor. Zayn squinted at the script on the breast of his way-too-white lab coat.  _ “Dr. Higgins.” _

“You’re awake,” he said, smiling down at Zayn who nodded, regretting it instantly. 

“Well, you have a bit of a concussion, a broken wrist, and numerous contusions, but other than that, you were very fortunate,” the doctor explained as he shined a light into Zayn’s eyes quickly. “We’re just glad to see you awake.”

“Liam?” Zayn asked, confused when the doctor chuckled.

“He’s had a bit of a shock and seems to have a limited vocabulary like you,” the doctor answered as he scribbled something on the tablet in his hand. 

“Sorry?” 

“He can only say, ‘Zayn’.” Zayn could feel the flush on his face starting as Dr. Higgins’ smile grew. “I know he’s not family, but maybe I can sneak him back here if you like.”

“Please,” Zayn whispered, reaching for the cup of water with his left hand as the doctor left. Jesy helped him again. When the curtain twitched, Zayn looked up expectantly with a smile for Liam, surprised when it was his parents who appeared in the curtained off area. “Mum. Baba.”

“Oh, Zayn,” his mum exclaimed, tears in her eyes as she hurried to his side to press a kiss to his forehead, her hands skimming over the cast on his wrist. “How badly are you hurt?”

“Um, concussion and broken wrist,” Zayn responded, looking past his mum to see his father wipe at his eyes. “I’ll be okay,” he assured them, letting her squeeze him tightly, even though it hurt a bit, and sharing a mutual eye roll with his father.

When she seemed to gain control of her tears and loosened her tight hold on Zayn, he yelped as she swatted his left arm with her purse. “How could you not tell me you were friends with Liam James Payne?” she hissed. “How long has this been going on?”

“Mum!” Zayn laughed. “I’ve only known him, like, a week.” The laughter hurt his head but felt good at the same time. He’d forgotten how silly his mum could get sometimes. “I hope you didn’t embarrass me out there. Liam’s a bit skittish about his celebrity status.” His mother huffed, but refused to look him in the eye. “Mum, what did you do?”

Yaser was laughing as Trisha opened her mouth to speak before quickly snapping it shut again. “She was a bit cold,” he told Zayn.

“Oh, mum, really?” He could just picture it, his mum had a tendency to be standoffish when she didn’t know how to behave. “This is already the worst first date in history,” Zayn muttered, pulling the sheet up over his head.

“Date?” Trisha squeaked and Zayn groaned. He noticed his father’s lips twisting into a smirk to rival Louis’ most mischievous before he disappeared from the cubicle.

“Yeah, guess so,” Zayn admitted, smiling as his mother slid onto the bed next to his hip, tugging the sheet away from his face. 

“Tell me everything,” she told him.

“Not really a whole lot to tell, mum.” He picked at the edges of the blanket. “He lives in my building and we met in the laundry room. He’s having a hard time with school, so I helped him out.” He shrugged. “Then it seemed like he kept showing up every time I turned around.” He shared the stories of running into Liam on campus and how they’d ended up at the museum together.

“Sounds a bit like fate keeps bringing you together,” she sighed out. Zayn recognized that look in her eyes.

“Mum,” he whined out in warning.

She tried to school her smile, but Zayn couldn’t miss the fond that he saw there. “Do you like him?”

“He’s a good lad.”

“Zayn,” she said, her voice firm, but her eyes sparkling.

He didn’t look up from the blanket when he heard the curtain moving again, figuring it was just his father returning. “Yeah, I like him a whole lot, mum. He’s fit and nice and a giant dork and makes me laugh. Are you happy now?”

“Very,” Liam said. Zayn’s head snapped up so their eyes met. He could hear his father laughing from where he was standing behind Liam.

Zayn lifted a hand to cover his face, feeling the warmth of it and not missing the way the beeping on the heart monitor got a bit erratic. He suddenly wished the ground to open up and swallow him, or a nurse would come in and chase them all out for getting the patient worked up. “You weren’t supposed to hear that,” he whined.

Zayn’s mom moved off the bed, gesturing for Liam to sit before she and his father excused themselves, saying they were going to fill the others in on Zayn’s condition. They were gone before either boy could say a word. Liam looked at the spot on the bed, his brows scrunched up in question. Zayn nodded, still refusing to make direct eye contact with Liam, but not complaining or pulling away when he sat, taking Zayn’s good hand in both of his.

“I’m glad I heard it,” Liam said. “It’s nice to hear what you think when you don’t know I can hear you. It means it’s the truth.”

“You still doubted me,” Zayn realized. He nodded his head slowly to himself. “Can’t really blame you for that, I guess.” Finally, he looked up and met Liam’s eyes. “I can’t imagine your life.”

Liam looked sad for a moment. “Look, Zayn, you might not have to imagine it, if this goes anywhere other than friendship.”

“What do you mean?” Zayn tried to push himself up, but Liam reached for the bed controls and after a couple of minutes of fidgeting, and nearly folding Zayn in half, they had him sitting up against the pillows so that they were able to look directly at each other.

“I’ve been pretty lucky that paparazzi and fans have been respectful of my privacy on campus, for the most part.” Liam started running his thumb over the back of Zayn’s hand. “If we start a serious relationship, not that I’m trying to rush anything, I just think you need to know from the get-go. If we start spending more time together, going places other than around here, people are going to find out who you are. The papers are going to dig into your past. Most likely they will lie.”

“Don’t have any secrets, mate,” Zayn responded, his head hurting a little, but knowing Liam was being very serious about all of this, so he forced himself to pay attention.

“There will be people who will hate you simply because you’re dating me and they aren’t. Then others who will hate you because they won’t think you’re good for me, not just good enough, but good for. They’ll list all the reasons a relationship with you is unhealthy, every way that you are using me. They can be downright nasty,” Liam warned. “Most of my fans are pretty cool and supportive, but there are those who just aren’t when it comes to my personal life. I do have to say, they are a smart bunch; they always knew when my relationships were fake. Hell, they even knew about the real ones despite efforts to keep them quiet.” He chuckled, feeling a bit fond.

“Liam, I’m not saying I know what that’s like, but if we get to that point, to the point of being something serious, we’ll deal with it all then, yeah?” Zayn lifted his hand to tilt Liam’s chin up so their eyes could meet. “However, let’s try to get through a decent first date before we start worrying about the future.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Zayn was kept for observation until the next day. Zayn’s parents had left after a few hours and repeated reassurance from Dr. Higgins that Zayn was going to be just fine. Trisha apologized for and explained about her behavior to Liam, who had, in retrospect, found it amusing and convinced her that he hadn’t been offended in the slightest bit. By the time she’d left with a handful of autographs for Zayn’s sisters, she was smiling and shouting out repeated invitations to Liam to come for dinner, even if he didn’t want to bring Zayn. 

“I think she likes you,” Zayn had laughed out. His tongue pressed against the back of his teeth as his smile grew until his eyes were completely scrunched shut.

Liam’s phone started going crazy as Zayn was putting on the clothes Louis had brought for him, his others having been ruined in the accident. He groaned as he recognized his agent’s phone number. “Hey, Kye,” he said as he picked up, rolling his eyes to a confused Zayn. He missed what Kye was saying, but could hear the apologetic distress in his tone, something he knew the man practiced. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“Look, Liam, I’m not sure what happened, but somehow word got out that you were seen entering the hospital from an ambulance, your face fairly beat up. There are paps everywhere outside.”

“What about the legal order?” Liam questioned, squeezing the hand Zayn had wrapped in his to try to reassure him.

“Technically, it’s just for campus and you are not on campus, Liam. I’m sorry,” Kye explained. “I’ve already left a message with the public relations department of the hospital, but we need to come up with some kind of statement regarding your injuries and overnight visit to the hospital.”

“My only statement is, ‘No comment’,” Liam snapped, hanging up the phone. “Shit,” he muttered.

“What’s going on?” Zayn asked just as Jesy came in with a wheelchair to escort Zayn to the carpark where Louis was waiting for them.

“Paps,” he said.

Jesy rolled her eyes and made a derogatory comment. “I know how you can get out.” She looked at Zayn. “Do you have someone picking you up?” He nodded. “Call and tell them to pull around to the physician’s parking lot.” She pulled a phone out of her pocket. “Tell no one you saw this.” She dialed quickly and spoke to someone. “What’s your friend’s name?” 

“Louis,” Zayn answered as he settled into the wheelchair, hating the policy that required him to ride in it, but enjoying the way the girl spoke quickly to whoever was on the other end.

She slid her phone back into her pocket and grabbed the handles of the wheelchair. “Jake is working the booth of the physician’s lot. He’ll let Louis through.”

Zayn texted the info to Louis, getting back,  _ “Probably a wise plan. Madhouse out here.” _

As they made their way through hallways of the hospital, Jesy called out to a dark-haired woman in a suit to follow them. “Nicole, we have a bit of a situation with paparazzi out front. Can you do your magic?”

“On it,” she said, hurrying in the direction they had come from.

“She works in public relations. She’ll go tell them that they are not at liberty to discuss patients due to regulations and other big words. Then she’ll basically tell them to f*ck off in the kindest most socially acceptable way possible,” Jesy explained, making Liam chuckle.

“Perhaps I should hire her for my team,” he joked.

“Nah. She did the showbiz rep thing, hated it.” Liam blinked in shock. “Yeah, I know who you are. Shame you aren’t acting anymore, but as long as you’re happy, the fans are happy.” She looked at him consideringly. “Maybe just drop a selfie or something to let them know you’re still alive, though, yeah?”

“For this, I’ll do you one better, love.” He pulled her next to him and held out his phone, snapping a selfie of the two of them that didn't’ give any indication that they were in a hospital. Quickly he fiddled with his phone, before pocketing it. Zayn and Jesy both blushed when both of their phones buzzed. “Seriously? Both of you?”

Zayn laughed out loud as he lifted his phone, showing Liam the screen which said, “@liamjamespayne: made a new freind 2day buzzzzzzinnnnn” followed by a link. “Your spelling is for shit,” he said as he opened Twitter to display the tweet and the pic of Jesy and Liam together. 

“I think I love you,” Jesy said, smiling as they reached a door. Liam pushed it open and they all blinked against the sunlight. “Now, go!”

Liam helped Zayn out of the chair and they moved slowly towards Louis’ car that was pulling into the lot. Once they were in the car, Liam ducked down in the backseat, so that Louis could drive directly past the paps, laughing maniacally the entire time. “I feel like I’m in a film,” he said, causing Liam to join in the laughter.

They made it back to the dorms with no further excitement, but Liam decided to stay inside as much as possible for the rest of the week. Zayn brought him food when he could and one night, Louis, Niall, and Harry all joined them for pizza and movies. Liam laughing and arguing against watching any of his, even when Louis dropped DVD copies of all of them on his lap. “Didn’t know you were a fan, Lou,” he teased.

“Live in a houseful of women, don’t I?” Louis countered, but he was smiling as he settled next to Liam, forcing him to talk about filming certain scenes from each movie. 

“Leave him alone, Louis,” Zayn said from his spot on the other side of Liam.

“It’s alright,” Liam responded. “At least he’s talking to me instead of punching me.”

“Ha ha ha,” Louis said, punching him in the shoulder.

“Forget I said that,” Liam said, rubbing his arm, but laughing as Zayn wrapped his arms around him in a protective manner. “My hero.”

The night was a fun one, but eventually, Louis fell asleep with his head in Harry’s lap, while Niall was starfished on the floor snoring loudly. Harry’s eyes were blinking slowly and he’d stopped contributing to conversation. Zayn was curled into Liam, head on his shoulder as they watched  _ Captain America _ .

“Hey, Zayn?” Liam whispered, but he didn’t get a response. “Zayn.”

“Hmmm,” Zayn responded, sleepily, nuzzling his nose into Liam’s shoulder and snuffling.

“Go back to sleep. Sorry.” Liam reached for the remote, turning off the movie.

“No. M’wake. Vas happenin’?” He tilted his head to look up at Liam, a sleepy smile on his face. 

“Was thinking about a redo of our first date,” he whispered, hoping not to wake the others.

“I think I’d like that,” Zayn responded, chewing his lower lip.

“No visit to A&E this time, please,” Harry murmured as he moved around on the bed until he was curled up next to Louis.

“Promise,” Liam and Zayn said together, laughing as they both whispered, “Jinx.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to come talk to me on Twitter or tumblr. I really love meeting new people!


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